The law is good and holy but so often when we are “shoulding” on one another, we actually are just going to end up “burning” each other’s fields.
My husband works with farmers. His official title is, “Sales Agronomist.” What that means is he tells farmers what type of fertilizer their fields need to produce the most corn, wheat, or soybeans. Essentially, he tells his growers what their fields need to be the best that they can be.
I had little experience or knowledge of farming before I met my husband. I was referred to as his girlfriend from the twin cities. The farming background I had was spending my days after school and as many weekends as I could convince my parents to let me be at my grandparents dairy farm. The only experience I had with fertilizer was what fell in the gutters behind the cows.
Now that I’ve been married for 10 years I know way more than I have ever wanted to know or need to know about fertilizer. I have learned things about the chemical makeup of fertilizer, how it is applied and even what fields are lacking what nutrients. I’ve learned that too much of some fertilizers can ‘burn’ a field or kill it.
The prescription we all need is the life-giving water we have in Christ, and constant reminders of it.
Spreading fertilizer is an important part of the farming season. The prescriptions can be so precise that certain parts of the field receive a different prescription than others. This is all thanks to how advanced farming equipment has become.
As much as I’ve learned I still do not know enough. If it was up to me to give recommendations on what to put on what field, I’m certain I would burn and kill more fields than I would help.
My pastor let me in on a little phrase that I will never forget: “Shoulding on one another.” He tells people to not let any one “should” on you. (And yes, this “shoulding” is a close alliteration to the word that comes to your mind when you think of all natural fertilizer.
The law is good and holy but so often when we are “shoulding” on one another, we actually are just going to end up “burning” each other’s fields. All the good advice and prescriptions we are giving are not going to produce fruit. The only thing all of this constant ‘shoulding’ is going to produce is death.
When we become obsessed with inspecting everyone’s field and prescribing and applying all of the right ‘should’s’ to all the right people, we miss the most important piece of the puzzle. We miss the life-giving water Christ gives us.
All the things that should be done and need to be done have been completed by Christ. When we "should" all over one another will not make others grow.
We may have a beautiful prescription to make someone’s field grow but even with all of that knowledge chances are we could burn their field. What makes us grow is the love and grace of Christ.
The prescription we all need is the life-giving water we have in Christ, and constant reminders of it.
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18).
